


The Demise of Santa Claus

by SummerLeighWind



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Christmas, Family, Gen, Kid Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-22
Updated: 2015-12-22
Packaged: 2018-05-08 07:30:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5488805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SummerLeighWind/pseuds/SummerLeighWind
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While scolding Alphard for startling Walburga and her cousin, Lucretia, the truth about Santa Claus is revealed to Orion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Demise of Santa Claus

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ScreamingFae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScreamingFae/gifts).



> Written for Diagon Alley II Forum's Secret Santa Exchange on FF.net.

Giggling to himself as he peaked into the drawing room his brother, sister and cousins had claimed as theirs for the evening, Alphard hoped that what he was about to do wouldn't interrupt his parents'  _adult_  Christmas party downstairs. They'd be awfully cross with him if he forced them to come upstairs.

Taking a breath in anticipation, Alphard leaped into the drawing room. "Ah!" Alphard shouted, putting his cold hands on the back of his sister and cousin's necks.

Startled, Lucretia shrieked. Yanking Lucretia away from him, Walburga howled in outrage. She pointed her wand at Alphard in a threatening manner, the fact she couldn't use it without risking a letter from the Improper Use of Magic Office completely forgotten in the face of her missed heartbeat.

Pushing the useless wand away from his face, Alphard laughed at them. "You - ha! Your faces!" he said as he went to take a seat in the armchair parallel to the doorway which he'd jumped through.

"You're so immature, Alphard! When will you stop doing such ridiculous things to get a rise out of others? You'll be going to Hogwarts next year! No seemly pureblood should behave in such a way!" Walburga lectured as she gestured to her side, where Lucretia sat mute, eyes wide and then, behind them where Cygnus was playing chess with their other cousin, Orion.

"Walburga's right," Cygnus called as he destroyed one of Orion's pawns. "If Mater gets a letter about you losing points or detention for a joke like that you better be ready for a Howler. She's told us and  _told_  us if we are not model students we should expect the worst."

Alphard pulled a face. "It was just a bit of fun," he grumbled.

"Father says boys who are mean to girls get a visit from Krampus," Orion said.

Walburga frowned and looked to Lucretia.

The girl smiled in an embarrassed manner before she leaned in to explain in a whisper to Walburga, "It's something we learned about in Austria during the couple years we lived there before Orion was born. I think Father thought he needed something a little extra to keep a boy in line around Christmas."

Nodding, Walburga asked Orion, "What does this Krampus do to naughty boys?"

An anxious light came to the his eyes. Glancing around as if he was afraid the legendary being would appear from one of the shadows, Orion said, "He whips you with a switch. Then, if you aren't sorry enough after  _that,_ he kidnaps you and takes you to his lair where he beats you even worse until you learn your lesson."

"Wow! That's scary!" Alphard exclaimed, though, he looked more fascinated than actually frightened by what his younger cousin had told him. "Is he  _real_? Or is he just a story like Santa Claus?"

Lucretia tensed beside Walburga while Orion scrunched his nose. "They're  _both_ real!" he snapped.

"No they aren't!" Alphard argued. "Santa's not real! It's just Mater who puts the presents under the tree or coal in our stockings!"

"Are too!" Orion shouted vehemently as Walburga began to wonder how a  _nine year old boy_ still believed in a man who snuck into homes to leave things rather than take them.

"Orion…Alphard…" Lucretia pleaded ineffectually as she leaned forward in her seat.

Sighing, Cygnus knocked out another of Orion's chess pieces before loudly declaring, "Santa is as fake as yetis. And Alphard? Of course Krampus is just a story. Do you really think parents would let some man kidnap their children to punish them?  _Think,_ would you? You're older than I. You shouldn't be taken by such fanciful things."

"Oh, belt up," Alphard grumbled.

Looking between Alphard and Cygnus, Orion then turned big, gray eyes on Lucretia and Walburga. "Santa's fake?" he whispered in a wavering tone.

Frowning, Walburga watched Lucretia bite her lip before mumbling, "Orion…"

"No," the boy whimpered. "You're all lying!" he cried, springing up from his seat.

Alphard made a disgusted noise in the back of his throat. "No we aren't! You're just being a baby!"

"I'll prove it!" Orion proclaimed, determined. "I'll go get Mother, she'll tell you all to stop lying or Krampus will get you!" Chin raised high, the boy marched out of the room. Left alone to look silently amongst themselves now, they waited to see who'd be the first to speak.

Lips twitching into a smile, Alphard asked, "Think he'll make a scene when he finds out?"

"Maybe," Cygnus replied as he began to put the chessboard pieces back in their starting positions. "I guess this game's over," he sighed. "Orion won't want to finish when he's pouting about Santa not being real."

Walburga nodded in agreement. Then, eyeing her cousin, she asked Lucretia, "Why does Orion still believe in Santa Claus? Isn't he a bit old for it? Cygnus stopped believing ages ago."

Lucretia looked to her hands. "He's the baby. Mother thought it was sweet he believed and didn't want him to know the truth. And you know Father, he likes to keep Mother happy."

" _I'm_ not going to coddle my sons like that," Walburga said, feeling mildly disgusted at the idea of having a nine, almost ten, year old boy who believed in Santa. That was too  _old_. It was almost Hogwarts age! What if Alphard and Cygnus hadn't broken it to Orion? He could have made it to eleven still believing in a children's tale and made the Black family the laughing stock of Slytherin!

Fiddling with one of the chess board's queens, Cygnus inquired, "What about Krampus?"

Walburga pursed her lips and glanced to Alphard. The boy was watching them, face clearly amused and not at all guilty. "Well, if they believe in him that might be okay," she decided. "If they're as much trouble as Alphard, I'll need as many tricks up my sleeve as I can get!"

"Hey!"

Chuckling, Cygnus told Alphard, "She's right! If they're like you at  _all,_ Walburga is going to need a thousand and some tricks to shape them into boys worthy of our family name!"

Joining in with her brother's laughter, Walburga ignored Alphard's loud complaints and just hoped that if and when Orion returned, he would know they weren't laughing at him. The poor boy's night was already ruined, he didn't need to think they thought he was lesser too for the purposeful lies his family told him.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading and please leave a comment/kudo to let me know what you think :)


End file.
